Monty Panesar took four wickets as West Indies declined to 217 for five at tea on the third day of the first Test against England at Lord's.
LONDON: Monty Panesar took four wickets as West Indies declined to 217 for five at tea on the third day of the first Test against England at Lord's here on Saturday.
Left-arm spinner Panesar's haul of four for 52 in 17 overs was primarily responsible for leaving West Indies 336 behind England's first innings 553 for five declared.
That meant they were still 137 shy of the follow-on although with seamer Matthew Hoggard, one of four specialist bowlers, off the field with a thigh strain whether stand-in England captain Andrew Strauss would make West Indies bat again if he got the chance was doubftul.
Shivnarine Chanderpaul was 26 not out and Dwayne Bravo 14 not out.
Panesar, who'd bowled Devon Smith with his first ball of the morning session, soon struck again in a spell broken only by the lunch break.
He had West Indies captain Ramnaresh Sarwan, hiding his bat behind his pad, given out lbw for 35 by Pakistan umpire Asad Rauf to a ball that would have gone on to hit the stumps.
Before this match some pundits had suggested Panesar be dropped so seam-bowler friendly were the expected conditions at Lord's.
But with Hoggard off the field and Liam Plunkett losing his line, Panesar again showed how a good spin bowler could provide both variety and control in an otherwise all right-arm seam attack.
Ane he ended Daren Ganga's near three-hour innings when the opener, on 49, pushed forward uncertainly and was lbw. West Indies were now struggling at 165 for four.
Ganga's exit brought in the experienced Chanderpaul, who three years ago against England at Lord's scored 128 not out and 97 not out.
West Indies lost that Test by 210 runs and it looked as if they would need all of Chanderpaul's customary resilience to avoid another heavy defeat.
But at the other end Runako Morton, who scored a century in the tourists' lone warm-up match against Somerset, also fell lbw to Panesar's arm-ball after, like Ganga and Sarwan, he didn't offer a shot.
Panesar, in his first Test against the West Indies, had now taken four for 33 including a spell of three wickets for 13 runs in 36 balls.
West Indies, in their first major match since the retirement of former captain and star batsman Brian Lara, had now slumped to 187 for five.
Plunkett had taken the first wicket to fall when he bowled Chris Gayle for 30 with a delivery that swung in and clipped the left-hander's off-stump after he'd played down the wrong line.
Strauss, confident England had enough runs on the board, declared before play began Saturday in the opening match of a four-Test series.
That meant Matt Prior, the first England wicket-keeper to score a century on his Test debut, finished on 126 not out off just 128 balls with 19 boundaries.
Ian Bell was 109 not out having shared an unbroken stand of 190 in 212 balls with Prior. They were two of four England centurions in the innings, with Alastair Cook (105) and Paul Collingwood (111) also reaching three figures.
Prior and Bell's hundreds on Friday meant four England batsmen had scored centuries in the same Test innings for the first time since 1938.
Scoreboard at tea
England first innings
A.Strauss c Smith b Powell 33
A.Cook c Bravo b Taylor 105
O.Shah c Smith b Powell 6
K.Pietersen c Smith b Collymore 26
P.Collingwood b Bravo 111
I.Bell not out 109
M.Prior not out 126
Extras (b-8 lb-17 w-10 nb-2) 37
Total (for five wickets declared, 142 overs) 553
Fall of wickets: 1-88 2-103 3-162 4-219 5-263
Bowling: Powell 37-9-113-2 (6w), Taylor 24-4-114-1,Collymore 32-5-110-1 (2nb), Bravo 32-8-106-1 (1w), Gayle10-0-48-0, Morton 1-0-4-0 (2w), Sarwan 6-0-33-0
West Indies first innings
C.Gayle b Plunkett 30
D.Ganga lbw Panesar 49
D.Smith b Panesar 21
R.Sarwan lbw Panesar 35
S.Chanderpaul not out 26
R.Morton lbw Panesar 14
D.Bravo not out 14
Extras (lb-12 w-14 nb-2) 28
Total (for five wickets, 59 overs) 217
Fall of wickets: 1-38 2-83 3-151 4-165 5-187
Bowling: Hoggard 10.1-3-29-0, Harmison 14-1-52-0(2w 2nb), Plunkett 16-2-68-1 (4w), Collingwood 1.5-0-4-0,Panesar 17-2-52-4
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